Speech Therapist — $60.00

On the way to speech therapy The Son announced that he didn’t think he’d need any more sessions.  I was a little surprised because I know it’s been going pretty well for him.  He said on Tuesday he’d received a writing assignment in his English class and was able to get started writing on it right away.  He was obviously proud of himself.

I pushed him a bit (well, maybe baited) by asking if he felt he’d be prepared to start doing writing assignments for me at home.  He said yes.  Then I asked if he thought he’d be open to taking more academically-oriented classes through the homeschool co-op, classes like High School English.  He said he thought so.

That is definitely a breakthrough for him.  I’m not going to hold my breath or pretend that a miracle has happened and that all of his communication difficulties will melt away.  Even The Son said that he didn’t think that the whole writing “dam” had been broken down but, for now, he feels confident in continuing to write without the help of the therapist.

I’m thrilled that, one, he’s made as much progress as he has in such a relatively short amount of time; two, that this hurdle that at one point looked insurmountable appears to have been jumped (or is at least a little smaller and more scalable than it once was); and, three, that the weekly expense has come to an end.  Even if, at some point in the future, he feels the need for another bout of speech therapy sessions, at least it’s over for now.

Baseball Coach — $8.00
Given to the coach to help cover the costs of renting tunnel space and batting cages for practice today since the weather was yucky outside.  The Son’s team has their first game on Wednesday but they’ll be playing without The Son — Wednesday’s are cello lessons and orchestra rehearsal nights for us and I’ve been very clear with The Son and The Husband that those commitments come before baseball.

Luckily, though, this will be the only game The Son has to miss because the orchestra season is winding down for the year.

On a fun note, The Son came out of practice excited because he got to pitch this evening and the coach said he had a good arm.  His accuracy is excellent but he needs to work on his speed.  Hopefully he’ll get some specific one-on-one coaching for that.  As thrilled as I am for him, I’d really rather he didn’t pitch.  It’s not very good for their shoulders or arms.  Still, I think it’s better than catching.  He’ll probably end up just being a relief pitcher like last year which would be the best of all worlds.

In other good news, The Son is getting used to his new baseball glove and the coach noticed it right away.  Coach was glad to see that the boy had graduated to an adult-sized glove instead of that kid’s glove he had been using.  Yesterday I emailed the coach asking about proper bat sizes/weights for the boy.  Again, the coach had noticed that The Son’s bat was too small for him and hadn’t been sure whether to bring it up or not.  The Son’s been hitting really well and he didn’t want to throw him off his game.  The coach has a bat that his son has out-grown that he wants The Son to try — and if it fits we can borrow it before deciding to make that type of investment.  Good bats are really pricey.  Like $300-$500 dollars!  Sometimes they’re on sale or you can buy last year’s model but you’re still looking at a pile of clams for a silly bat.  And then, in two short years, if the boy goes on to play high school ball, he’ll need a different sized bat again.

Not to sound like a broken record, but it’s been a long day.  And did I mention, I’ve been sick?  No, not just sick.  I mean sick. Really sick.  Ill.

We all got up at 6am to celebrate The Daughter’s 16th birthday.  It was so fun to give her gifts she hadn’t expected.  It was really a lovely day and both of my children made me so proud today.  I hope to share the events of the day and some of the reasoning behind The Daughter’s gifts — but not tonight.

Costco — $25.31
We went hoping to find a copy of The Audacity of Hope which is what The Son wanted to give his sister for her birthday.  Of course, we already have a copy but The Daughter really wants a copy of her own so she can feel free to highlight and makes notes in the margins, etc.  Naturally, they didn’t have a copy.  So we simply picked up a case of Capri Sun 100% Juice ($7.55) and a mega pack of Bounty paper towels ($16.49).

Costco Gas — $42.48
Filled up The Tank with 14.455 gallons @ $2.939 per gallon; the odometer read 120,991.

Hobby Lobby — $1.80
In my effort to teach The Son the finer points of gift-giving, I suggested that in addition to the book he planned to give his sister he also come up with some sort of little bauble or sweet.  The book was an excellent idea because it was an item she specifically wanted although it hadn’t occurred to her (or even me) that it would be a good gift idea.  So I applauded The Son for choosing it.  But I’m trying to teach him some of the more subtle gift-giving techniques of adding a little unexpected something.  Those little “accessory” gifts can be the icing on the gift-giving cake especially when the main gift is something as non-personal as a book by a presidential hopeful.

So The Son decided to find some type of inexpensive container or receptacle and fill it with chocolate or candy.  After a quick perusal of everything Hobby Lobby had to offer, he chose a cute little red glass vase.

Barnes & Noble — $12.57
A copy of The Audacity of Hope.  Now we have two copies.  I’ve finished reading my copy and the son is reading it now.  The Daughter will have to wait a few days before digging in because she has to finish The Grapes of Wrath for school first.

Target — $2.01
A bag of plain chocolate M&M’s to finish off The Son’s second birthday gift.  It was a much larger bag than was nececessary but they don’t seem to carry the small bags.  Besides, I seriously doubt that either The Husband or the kids really objects to having a couple extra M&M’s around the house.  The knowledge of what they’d do to me (due to food allergies) makes it very easy for me to not be in the least bit tempted.

Cello Teacher — $131.25
This check covers 5 lessons.  I need to look through my records to figure out exactly what dates this check will cover but I believe it takes us through March.

Wendy’s — $3.00?
I’m unsure of the actual amount because I can’t find the receipt.  It must have been left in the bag.  It’s not the same amount as usual because the order wasn’t The Son’s usual Wednesday Wendy’s order.  In celebration of The Daughter’s birthday, the plan was to meet somewhere for dinner after orchestra rehearsal.  The Daughter chose Red Lobster — probably less because that’s where she wants to eat and more because it is the only restaurant (literally) where I can actually eat something off the menu.  [I can eat the steamed crab legs as long as nothing else touches the plate; I can’t even have their clarified butter.]

Anyway, in light of the fact that we’d been dining out a mere 2 hours after his lesson, I figured The Son would forego his usual Wendesday Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers and save his appetite for crab legs and/or lobster.  I underestimated, once again, the appetites and logic of a 13-yo boy.  Yes, he did still want to stop at Wendy’s but rather than order his typical meal of 2 Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers and a medium soda, today he ordered The Baconator and a medium soda.  Naturally, he snarfed that thing down like it was a mere morsel and went on to do his dad proud with crab legs and shrimp scampi at Red Lobster.

Target –$32.41

Different trip, different Target, much later in the day.  I bought a new room humidifier to replace one that was old and no longer functioning properly.  We desperately need to keep a few small humidifiers running in our house — if for nothing else than to help protect the cello — but I’m not willing to put my wood floors in danger of water damage for the sake of eeking a few more months out of a well-used machine.

Today is Wednesday which means it must be music day.  Well, it was supposed to be music day.  We went all the way to The Son’s cello lesson but the teacher never showed up.  I’m guessing we got our wires crossed — I’d mentioned that we needed to cancel next week’s lesson; maybe he thought I meant this week’s.  I called his cell but haven’t heard back from him yet.  I hope it was crossed wires and not some sort of emergency.

Cello Lessons — $131.25
This check covers 5 lessons and I’d intended to give it to the teacher at today’s lesson.  Since today’s lesson didn’t happen, I’ll have to mail the check instead.

Wendy’s — $3.84
The Son wasn’t too brokenhearted about the lack of the cello lesson today but he was very worried that he’d miss out on his weekly Wendy’s dinner.  I assured him that we’d still stop for his burgers.  Tonight he went for a medium vanilla frosty instead of a root beer.

Costco — $32.52
Tonight’s weather forecast calls for a drastic drop in the temperature and snow!  Ugh.  Since The Tank’s tank was just below the half-way mark, I decided to stop for a fill-up on the way home from orchestra rehearsal.  I pumped 11.872 gallons at $2.739 per gallon.  The odometer read 119,910.

School Lunches — $38.00
Today’s final expense was a check made out to the fellow who caters hot organic lunches at The Daughter’s school.  We allow her to average 2 lunches per week — though, I’ve got to tell you, as the one responsible for packing a lunch for the other three days, it’s awfully tempting to encourage her to exceed that number 

Each lunch is $4.75 and includes an entree, juice or organic milk, and a vegetable.  The Daughter filled out her form and selected 8 lunches that will cover us into the first week of April.  I wrote the check and The Husband will stick it in the mail tomorrow.

Cello Teacher — $105.00
Paid for four 45-minute lessons.  This will take us into the first week of February. 

Wendy’s — $4.08
Dinner for The Son consisted of two burgers and a medium root beer. 

Kohl’s — $32.27
While I was busy with A Boy and His Cello duty, The Husband had to pick up The Daughter.  She has a dance coming up this weekend and no practice this afternoon so she asked that a parent take her shopping for a new blouse.  Her dad drew the short straw.  Apparently she dragged him to no less than 6 different stores!  Turns out she was shopping not just for herself but for a classmate as well.  The classmate’s blouse totaled $19.37 of the above total so The Daughter is still within her clothing budget. 

Addendum:

iTunes — $3.18 (used iTunes credit; no cash actually spent)

• 1234 by Fiest
• Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
• Business Time by Flight of the Conchords (this “polished” version was a little disappointing because I’m used to the live, more “raw” version; still hilarious)

I’m exhausted.  So tired, in fact, that I was tempted to just go to bed without posting today’s expenses.  But I’ve come this far, I can’t let something so small as a very long, very busy, and exhausing day break my resolve to keep at this daily $$ blogging thing.

 So here’s the quick rundown:

I returned the one picture frame and two shadow box frames to T.J.Maxx this morning for a $45.21 credit.  When I got the frames home and showed them to The Husband we agreed to just give his adult kids loose photos of our kids and let them frame them, or scrapbook them, as they choose.  I was happy with our decision and happy to put that money back onto the credit card.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take the Lee dungarees back at the same time.  The Son liked the flannel jammie bottoms but, as I had guessed, he rejected the carpenter-style denims.  The fabric was too heavy and stiff.

I stopped at Wild Oats this evening and spent $10.14 on 6 packages of Wild Oats tortillas and an Odwalla Strawberry C Monster.  I was very much aware that this was my second “luxury” drink purchase in a week but it had already been a very long day of driving here and there and everywhere in snow and ice and slush and I still had a full evening ahead of me.  So I caved.

After practice this evening the son asked if I’d buy him a Subway sandwich on the way home.  He was going to be home alone for the entire evening and there honestly wasn’t much in the way of food he could easily make himself so I agreed.  Actually, I managed to talk him into compromising and getting a slice of pizza and a tray of sushi at Wild Oats because we were header there anyway and I was in a time crunch but Wild Oats didn’t have any pizza and only lame-o sushi left so I told him to forget it and we’d do Subway.  So we picked up a footlong turkey and ham sandwich on wheat for $6.34.

I had a no-expense transaction as well — while The Son was at practice, I ran back up the street to the mall where I exchanged the green J.Crew t-shirt for a light blue one (turned out that one of the shirts I bought off eBay was green and The Son definitely doesn’t have need for more than one green t-shirt).  The exchange was straight across the board so no expense involved other than the gas it took to run the errand.

I also happened to have three separate cash transactions today (that’s more than I have in a typical week).

First, I stopped by the bank and did something I almost never, ever do — I did a cash withdrawl.  Usually I make all cash withdrawls from The First Bank of Daddy.  That’s when I need some carrying-around money.  This was different.  I wanted $50 cash to give as a tip to The Son’s cello teacher.  The Husband would have given me the cash but I would have felt obligated to explain what it was for.  It’s not that he would have objected, per se, but, well, what he doesn’t know won’t piss him off either  ;-)  The Husband’s not a big tipper and he tolerates expense of music lessons, orchestra fees, and instrument rentals, but they aren’t his top priority.  As The Husband likes to say, “discretion is the better part of valor.”  I would never lie to my husband but you don’t get to be my age and have a relationship last as long as ours has without the judicial use of discretion.

Next, I had to feed the meter $0.50 for 1/2 hour parking so I could go in and fetch The Son after practice.

And finally, The Husband and I were charged $8.00 total for admission to The Daughter’s tournament game. 

Cello Teacher — $131.25
September’s lesson plus extra lesson in preparation of tonight’s chair auditions — 5 lessons in all, 45 minutes each.

cash — $25.00
given to The Daughter to pay for new spandex shorts, socks, and hair ribbons — all part of HS team’s volleyball uniform.

Boston Market — $8.48
Dinner for The Son.

Home Depot — $31.83
copper tubing and fittings necessary for friend to run a water line up from the basement to fridge in preparation of new fridge with ice maker

handyman — $80.00
payment to my friend who ran the copper pipe waterline for the new fridge — he ran it up through the floor from the basement laundry room and installed a water shutoff ball valve at my request

Starbucks — $1.88
medium dark roast, no room for the handyman

Subway — $15.68
sandwiches for The Son, The Daughter, and the handyman

Vitamin Cottage — $11.04
package of sliced smoked turkey, pound of butter, and an orange fruit-sicle for The Son

Robertson & Sons — $35.00
monthly cello rental